


Birthday Boy

by kazeshinobi



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Birthday, Brief mention of prostitution, M/M, Niles' shitty past, brief mention of underage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-22
Updated: 2016-04-22
Packaged: 2018-06-03 17:37:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6619969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kazeshinobi/pseuds/kazeshinobi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A brief glimpse of Niles' past birthdays; the bad, the ugly and the disappointing.</p><p>This year's looking a little different, however.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthday Boy

April 22nd.  
  
It was one of the few things he could vaguely remember his mother telling him; he didn't even know if it even was the right date, or even if the memory was truly real.  
Some days he wondered why she had even bothered to have him. She'd fucked off into the sunset and left him behind with nothing.  
  
He sighed and leaned against the grimy brick wall he was propped up against, feeling the cold wind blow through his bones. His stomach growled persistently. He frowned and wrapped his thin arms around his empty belly, hoping to halt the sounds. He didn't need her. He didn't need anyone but himself.  
  
He spent his 8th birthday huddled alone in the cold, the dark filth of the city choking his throat.

* * *

  
It was his 15th birthday and one of the senior gang members had hired a prostitute for the night, the woman looking frighteningly pale and small in their decrepit hideout.  
  
"To celebrate little Niles becoming a big boy, though we'll be using her later as well" the thief leered, a horrible gap toothed smile as he shoved the younger member into the woman's sweaty bosom.  
  
 She smelt like body odor and stale perfume, the desperation in her eyes making Niles very uncomfortable. He didn't particularly want to do this. He was attracted to women as well as men but he felt distinctly slimy looking into the face of the young woman who had probably been forcibly coerced into serving them. Her eyes were void of hope,  lips worn and chapped; the aura of despair around her was one of the least arousing things he'd ever seen in his life.  
  
He did it anyways, knowing that refusing a rare show of generosity from a senior member was an easy way to lose a finger or an eye. Besides, she wasn't a rare case. There was dozens of desperate boys and girls selling their bodies on the street, willing to try anything for a few coins. It was a common practice in gangs; they had a few members in thier own base who turned to such things when profit and food was scarce.

He was probably going to have do it too, in the future. Why not get some 'experience' now?  
  
What was he going to gain from refusing her?  
  
He let the other woman lead him away by the hand into a shoddy side room, ignoring the deep pit in his stomach.

* * *

  
"Happy birthday, Niles. Know that I appreciate you and your work each year."  
  
"Thank you, milord. Your words of praise give me _great_  pleasure!" Niles smirked, chuckling as Leo tutted exasperatedly.  
  
"On this special day, we must celebrate! Let us grab the tankards and bathe in a perpetual stream of liquid exultation!" Odin boomed, clapping his fellow retainer on the back excitedly.  
  
"After the bandits we were sent to deal with, of course" Leo chided them, rolling his eyes with a slight smile on his face.  
  
They ended up heading to a nearby tavern in the capital city that night (Niles had other places on his agenda, but had Lord Leo's safety to think about).  His company didn't last long. Leo was disgusted by the dirty glasses and left with his nose high in the air after one drink. Odin lasted a little while more, though as he became more and more drunk, his usual manner of speech became garbled and incoherent. Niles ending up taking him home, ignoring the incomprehensible mutterings from the blonde mage on the way back. He had considered picking someone up from the bar to bed, but the men and women alike looked pathetic and gaudy not to mention Odin would have likely fallen into a ditch without supervision.  
  
'Well as far as birthdays went, it wasn't too bad' he thought idly to himself that night, placing his eye patch on his bed stand as he prepared for sleep. He would've liked to have some pretty face curled up beside him tonight, but it was still leagues above his past sleeping arrangements.  
  
No poverty, no stealing, no selling himself in a dark alleyway...  
  
He smirked to himself at the disjointed shards of memories, cocooning himself in his blanket and wondering what his 8 year old self would think of his situation now.

* * *

  
A year ago he was dealing with petty bandits and now he was part of a grand scale invasion against the Hoshidan Army? Figures.  
  
Still, there were certain...perks of being assigned to his Lord Leo's younger brother, the main attraction being the prince himself. With jet black hair, stunning ruby eyes and the ability to turn into a gigantic, scaly dragon at will, it would be natural to assume that Lord Kamui was an intimidating, battle hardened man.  
  
That assumption was thrown out the window when he saw Lord Kamui get teary-eyed over a dead cat they found on patrol three days after they met.  
  
The truth was that Lord Kamui was an exceedingly gentle-hearted man. Niles usually despised people with a goody-two-shoes personality, but it wasn't like that with the prince. He was a genuinely peaceful soul, with a kind word and attentive ear for even the lowliest soldier. Niles could count the people he legitimately respected on one hand, but somehow in such a relatively short time, Lord Kamui had made that list. He had felt a certain something from their very first meeting, a stirring of deep interest that went beyond any sort of physical attraction.  
  
Not that he wasn't attracted to him; the man was stunning and those pure, sunny smiles he shot at Niles every so often weren't helping.  
  
The lord wasn't smiling now, however; few were. They were taking a brief respite from the countless of battles they'd faced over the last few days and everyone was weary with bone-deep fatigue. A good chuck of the prince's forces were currently milling around their main campsite, tired faces under a dull grey sky. There was a few outliers (the youngest Nohrian princess babbling to her retainers a mile a minute near the edge of the trees) but generally, the atmosphere was quite subdued. Still, the royal was trying his best to keep people's spirits up; as he did now, turning to face Niles with a subdued grin, standing next to him over the flickering camp fire.  
  
"I feel like that last battle aged me a year..." Kamui chuckled tiredly, running a hand over his sweaty face.  
  
"It was a little taxing, though I hope a prince such as yourself has a little more stamina than that" Niles teased, waggling his eyebrows to try and coax a laugh out of the unusually lethargic royal.  
  
It worked; those lovely ruby eyes shone as the younger man laughed, shaking his head in disbelief.  
  
"I appreciate the heartfelt concern, but I'm fine. No matter how tough it gets, we'll keep marching on. Time moves forward and so shall we" he replied, a quiet aura of confidence around him.  
  
"I only hope you're not too tired yourself, Niles. I realize I am asking you and Odin to do a lot, here..."   
  
"Believe me, I can keep going for a long time, milord. Though as far as birthdays go, it was pretty lackluster."  
  
"What? B-birthday?" Kamui replied with confusion, eyes wide at his words.  
  
Huh. He hadn't meant to share _that_ particular detail.  
  
"Why didn't you say anything!? I had no idea!" Kamui said in disbelief, pouting a little.  
  
"Think nothing of it. After all it is the greatest honor to be serving a member of the royal family on a day like this, right?" he said smoothly, flashing the prince a confident smile.  
  
Kamui snorted, crossing his arms.  
  
"Greatest honor? I don't know about that... but happy birthday, Niles. I'm sorry we spent most of it fighting for our lives" he said sincerely, looking up at the older man with a smile.  
  
"Well, at least it was exciting. Thank you milord" Niles responded, distracted by the way Kamui's cheeks dimpled when he grinned.  
  
Cute.  
  
"I hope you see many more birthdays, Niles. I promise to do my best to protect all of you here."   
  
Niles knew he would. And as the two traded easy banter back and forth in front of a crackling campfire, he found he didn't mind how today had played out after all.  
  
As long as he was standing by Lord Leo and Lord Kamui, he wasn't too worried about the next chapter in his mishmash of a life.

* * *

 

 "I think this may be my favourite birthday present I've gotten" Niles rumbled contentedly, breath hitching as Kamui kissed a hot wet stripe up his neck, nibbling at the sensitive, dark skin there.  
  
"Being married? That's your favorite present? Because we literally do that every day."  
  
"T-true, but you're usually not this much of a minx-"  
  
A teasing bite from Kamui cut off his sentence, eyebrows arching in pleasure as he bit back another deep groan. He reached out blindly for the other's hand, intertwining their fingers together and feeling Kamui's ring clink gently against his. Normally he was the one doing the teasing, but this much attention early in the morning was melting him into a gooey, pathetic puddle. He felt lips leave his neck and move a little further down, the blankets on their shared bed pooling around the other's form.  
  
His husband smiled gently, slowly kissing his way down his body while looking up at Niles with adoration, gentle scarlet eyes comforting in the early morning light.  
  
"I love you so much..." whispered the younger man, speaking as if it was the plainest fact in the world.  
  
The former thief snorted, an uncharacteristically shy smile on his face as he felt warmth fill his body from head to toe. He was loved. He was  _loved_ by somebody. And he was actually capable of loving them back.

He had a future.

His strong emotions must have shown on his face, for Kamui was grinning like a madman. He wanted to tell his prince how he adored him, how he was intoxicated by him-

"Stop turning me into a sap" is what he said instead, laughing as his husband hit him exasperatedly on the shoulder with a pillow, snickers turning into playful shouts as Kamui engaged a pillow fight on their bed.

 For the first time, Niles was glad it was his birthday.

**Author's Note:**

> Ah Niles; love and affection just baffle him sometimes due to the complete lack of it in his early life (but he's getting there and his spouse is helping him through his issues/early trauma).
> 
> Last week I realized Niles' birthday was on the horizon, so I wrote this little drabble for the date. I'm thinking I might do some for future character faves as well, if I can convince myself to not be lazy :P Would you guys be interested in more of this, or should this just be it's own thing?
> 
> Hope you enjoy and thanks for your support!


End file.
